Transfer talk: Paulinho flies in for medical at Tottenham

Paulinho celebrates after winning the Confederations Cup with Brazil and is now set to sign for Tottenham. Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Fifa via Getty Images

Tottenham anticipate announcing the eye-catching signing of Paulinho over the weekend after the Brazil midfielder flew to London to undertake a medical and finalise personal terms on a £17m move from Corinthians. Paulinho has been long admired by a number of leading clubs, with Spurs eventually beating off competition, most notably from Internazionale and Real Madrid, to secure the 24-year-old, whom they hope to use in tandem with his compatriot Sandro in central midfield. The player was a key member of the Corinthians side that claimed the Copa Libertadores last year and went on to beat Chelsea in the final of the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan last December.

He has gained 17 caps and impressed in Luiz Felipe Scolari's team as they triumphed at the Confederations Cup this month. He will become André Villas-Boas's first recruit of the summer, with his arrival serving as a statement of intent as the club seek to improve on last season's fifth- place finish. The Spurs manager hopes to follow the midfielder's transfer with that of David Villa from Barcelona, and interest is also retained in Valencia's Roberto Soldado and Internacional's Leandro Damião.

Once Paulinho has been secured, the England midfielder Scott Parker is expected to leave White Hart Lane, most likely to Queens Park Rangers in the Championship, for a fee of around £2m. Tom Huddlestone, who has been interesting Sunderland, is also likely to depart this summer in search of regular first-team football.

Mkhitaryan to Dortmund

Liverpool look set to miss out on one of their prime transfer targets this summer with Henrikh Mkhitaryan likely to join Borussia Dortmund instead. The German club sent a delegation to Donetsk on Friday, with the CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, and the sporting director, Michael Zorc, reportedly striking a deal believed to be worth €25m (£21.5m) for the midfielder to join the Champions League finalists. Brendan Rodgers had earmarked the Armenian as a key recruitment this summer but it now appears that he will have to look elsewhere to strengthen his midfield. Marcus Christenson

Kakuta to Vitesse Arnhem

Chelsea have sent Gaël Kakuta to Vitesse Arnhem on loan for a second successive season and could strike a similar arrangement with Valencia to take the young Spanish midfielder Oriol Romeu to the Mestalla.

Romeu, who was signed for £4.3m from Barcelona by Villas-Boas in 2011, damaged knee ligaments during a victory at Sunderland last December and spent the rest of the campaign in rehabilitation. He has returned to full fitness recently but, having already fielded interest from Celta Vigo, Chelsea may now seek to offer the 21-year-old regular game-time elsewhere via a temporary deal back in his native country.

The Londoners struck more than 30 loan deals with other clubs last season had already sent four promising players – Thibaut Courtois to Atlético Madrid, Todd Kane to Blackburn, George Saville to Brentford for six months and Patrick Bamford to Milton Keynes Dons – out before the new campaign. Kakuta's move to Vitesse extends that to five.

Djourou/Coquelin to Hamburg/Freiburg

Arsenal have confirmed the departure of two players on season-long loans. The Switzerland international Johan Djourou, 26, has signed for the Bundesliga side Hamburg after the defender spent the second half of last season at Hannover. The 22-year-old midfielder Francis Coquelin will also move to Germany, with Freiburg taking the former France Under-21 international to the Mage Solar Stadion for the forthcoming campaign.

Oatway to Brighton

Brighton have announced that the first-team coach Charlie Oatway, who was suspended by the club along with Gus Poyet last month, has left by mutual consent.The manager Poyet, his assistant Mauricio Taricco and Oatway were told to stay away from the club pending an internal inquiry in the aftermath of the play-off semi-final defeat by Crystal Palace. Poyet has since been sacked - although he has said he will appeal against the decision - and replaced by Oscar García, while Taricco had his suspension lifted before leaving by mutual consent last week.